Comments | dynamicsymmetry: Yeah, I'm still talking about this.

dynamicsymmetry

Yeah, I'm still talking about this.

Mar 08, 2012 06:53

As my sister says, sorry I'm not sorry.

Invisible Children has responded to the criticism. I appreciate the clarifications they offer regarding their finances--part of me thinks this info should have been more available up-front, but we can't all think of everything (though I think if you're asking for people's money in any significant amount ( Read more... )

politik

Comments 11

roads_outgrown March 8 2012, 17:21:52 UTC

I wish this was a blog post or note on facebook that could be linked to, dude. Seriously. I would link the fuck out of this.

dynamicsymmetry March 8 2012, 17:24:33 UTC

Dunno if this counts, but I did crosspost it to Tumblr.

roads_outgrown March 8 2012, 17:27:25 UTC

Totally counts. Rock and roll.

dynamicsymmetry March 8 2012, 17:55:05 UTC

Sweet.

Semi-related: I sort of laughed a little grimly as I was writing this.

Thread 7

hot_jupiters March 8 2012, 18:46:08 UTC

I agree with the a lot of what's written here. However, personal day-to-day context counts for so, so much, and as someone who's been researching all the ways things go viral, you've pretty much nailed it with this quote:

Yes, I understand that this is what has allowed it to go as massively viral as it has. Nuance doesn't lend itself to a successful viral campaign. The interrogation of one's own privilege doesn't lend itself to a successful viral campaign.
For me, that's what counts right now. Not in the future, not yesterday, but today ( ... )

dynamicsymmetry March 8 2012, 20:41:10 UTC

Okay, I should specify here: It's not that I have a problem with oversimplification in itself. I mean, I don't love it, but I also totally agree with you: sometimes it's the best of your options. Sometimes it's an incredibly powerful tool. Syria? Fucking complicated. And yet a huge amount of my info has been coming through Twitter. So it's not that I think 140 characters spell the death of reason. I really don't. I'm sorry if I came off that way.

My problem with this specific instance of it is not that it's partial info, or oversimplified info, or incomplete info, but that it is incorrect and racist info in addition to all of those other things, and that it is framed in such a way that it suggests that literally all you need to know is "he's a bad man and we need to stop him" (and also buy our $30 "action kit"). I think a lot of other viral campaigns and things along these lines actually encourage the opposite of that: they openly own that things are complex and that "awareness" needs to be the starting point for a much larger and ( ... )

hot_jupiters March 8 2012, 23:12:54 UTC

Dude, firstly, this is FULL OF AWESOME because it's such a rich, thoughtful response and I love spending time just reading and re-reading and absorbing and just... yes, full of necessary perspectives that really should be fucking passed around.

Commenting quickly tonight just to say that my brain is a pile of mush and I'm going out of town straight after work tomorrow, so I'm not ignoring this response -- it fully merits a coherent reply of my own. I'm just not able to make one right now! But thank you for writing such a long and fulfilling reply. I shall enjoy reading it again when my brain is back in working order lol

dynamicsymmetry March 8 2012, 23:17:29 UTC

Okay, whew, because I was like... Oh God that's a TL;DR essay I'm so sorry. I just have a lot of Thoughts about this.

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